Footwear



Sept. 28, 1937.' A, F, BANCROFT 2,094,091

FOOTWEAR Filed June l0, 1956 Patented Sept. 28, 1937 2,994,091v

UNirED erste s e r cfr-Fics t i 2,094,091 i n FOOTWEAR Albert F.Bancroft, West Newton, Mass.

Application June 10, 1936, Serial No. 84,455

4 Claims. (Cl. 36-51) 'I'his invention pertains to footwear and re- Fig.4 is a fragmentary section substantially on lates more particularly toan improved' closure the line Li-l of Fig. 3. tie for the Vent of a shoeand to a shoe embody- Referring to the drawing, the numeral I desigingsuch tie. hates a womans shoe of usual construction com- 5 From theaesthetic and ornamental standprising the upper 2 having the throat orvent 5 point a ribbon, tied in a carefully formed bow, Openingr 3 at theinSi'ieDI drehe-'611e Upper COIn-y is generally conce-ded to constituteone of the prising the tongue e which underlies the throat mostdesirable means for closing the front openor vent opening. The edges 5and 6 of the vent ing or vent of a shoe, especially a womans dressOpening, as here shown,v are spaced apart, it

shoe. However, a ribbon shoe string, p-articbeing understood that inaccordance with the 10v ularly when wide enough to obtain'the maximumstyle of the shoe this throator vent'opening may ornamental effect, hasbeen found undesirable be normally wider or narrower than that here inpractice by reason of its inherent tendency to illustrated. y Y becomepermanently crushed and wrinkled after In accordance with the embodimentof lthe inbeing tied and untied a very few times. Furthervention as heredisclosed, the upper is provided` 15 more, objection has been made toties of this with openings or eyelets l and 8 at vopposite type byreason of the difficulty experienced by the sides of the throat or ventopening -These ordinary wearer in tying the ribbon bow aftery eyeletopenings may merelyv be holes through the shoe has been donned so as toobtain a symthe material of the upper, although in ymost cases metricaland pleasing eifect. the edges of theseholeswill benished in onef20 Theprincipal object of the present invention way or another either, forexample, by orna-V, is to provide an improved shoe closure tie mente1Stitching 01 by the USeYOf a Ineiaiiinl'f i adapted to impart thedesired aesthetic ornaother eyelet member. These eyeletopeningsl mentalappearance inherent in a properly formed and 3 may be 0f any desiredSiZe reind ai? amide* ribbon bow but which does not suiersubstantialsired point below the extreme upper end of the 25!V ly inappearance through repeated dofling and vent opening. As hereillustrated these eyelet, donning of the shoe. A further Objectis toproopenings are more or less elliptical in shape,A alvide' an improvedclosure tie which may be adthough itis obvious that they may be of anyjusted to the foot of the individual wearer byv other contour desired. vf

the shoe salesman and which may retain this in- In accordance with the:.present invention the 30 itial adjustment tbroughouttne life of theshoe. improved c1osure tieoomprises lengths 9 ,and` I0 A further objectis to provide an improved clo- (Fig. 4) of ribbon, preferablyV atextileribbon" sure tie of pleasing and ornamental appearance and of a fairlystii shape-retaining character, comprising a bow-knotted portion, andwhich is fOI eXample taieta Silk, and 0f any Suitable capable of holdingthe vent portion of tbe shoe width, although it is desirable that thenbbon be 35 upper snugly but yieldingly over the instep arch of suchwidth as to provide a bow of maximum of the foot, although permittingthe shoe to be Ornamental effect. Each ribbon 9 and I0 iS pel'- dolfedand donned without disturbing the bowmarlently secured at one end tov anelastically knotted portion of the tie. stretchable member Il, forexample, a piece of Further objects and advantages` of the invenelasticwebbing, the ribbons being permanently 40 tion will be made manifest inthe following more secured to this webbing, for example, by seweddetailed description and by reference to the acseams I2 and i 3,respectively. The tie member companying drawing, in which thusconstructed is threaded through the eyelet Fig. 1 is a perspective viewof a shoe provided openings l and 8 which are so positioned that theWith an improved Closure tie of the present inelastic member Il overliesor is disposed in front 45 vention substantially as it appears when theshoe 0f the tongue 4 (Fig. 3)- Pl'eferabiy the inne!` is on the foot;end of one of the ribbon members, for example Fig. 2 is a fragmentaryplan view showing the the member 9, iS permanently SeCllIed i0 thecapability of the closure device to allow the vent material of the upperclosely adjacent to the of the enoe to stretch so as to permit the shoeto vent opening as, for example, by means of the 50 be donned or doiedwithout disturbing the bow- Stitched Seam l5 (Fig. 4) On the Other hand.knotted portion of the tie; the ribbon l0 is permitted to reeve freelythrough Fig. 3 is a fragmentary plan view, to smaller the eyelet opening8. scale, showing the closure tie applic-d to a shoe When the shoe isbeing fitted to a customers but before it has been tied; and foot, theshoe salesman pulls upon the ribbon 5 members 9 and l0 to draw theforward part of the shoe upper snugly about the instep arch of thewearer, and when the proper fit has thus been obtained, the salesmanties the ribbons 9 and I0 to form a bow-knot I6 extending transverselyacross the vent opening. It is contemplated that the salesman will betrained to determine the proper degree of stress to be imparted to theribbons in thus drawing the upper about the foot and also in the tyingof a bow tie of pleasing and symmetrical shape. If desired, fasteningmeans may be applied permanently to maintain the bow as tied by thesalesman. For example, its overlapping parts may be stitched together byconcealed stitches or a suitable metallic fastener may be provided forthe purpose.

When the shoe has thus been fitted to the foot and the ribbon bow tied,the shoe may be doiTed from the foot without untying the bow, by reasonof the capability of the elastic member Il to stretch and to reevethrough the eyelet opening 8. Thus, as illustrated in Fig. 2, the edges5 and 6 of the throat opening may be stretched apart from their normalrelative positions illustrated by the dotted lines at 5a and 6a to theexpanded full line positions, thus increasing the throat opening andpermitting the shoe to be pulled off of the foot. In the same Way indonning the shoe, the member Il will stretch so as to permit the foot tobe inserted in the shoe, but as soon as the shoe is in place, the memberIl will contract and thus restore the throat opening substantially toits normal width as determined in the original tting of the shoe to thefoot.

It will be evident that when the closure tie has been applied and thebow I6 has once been formed, the tie forms in effect a continuous bandcomprising a loop or bight portion threaded through the eyelet openings1 and 8 with its ends anchored to the bow-knot, the loop or bightportion being elastically extensible so as to permit the width of thethroat opening to be temporarily increased to allow donning and dofng ofthe shoe.

In its broader aspects, it is understood that some equivalent ornamentaldevice other than a bow tie may be employed either as forming aconstituent element of this continuous tie band or attached to that partof the tie band which extends across the front of the throat opening.

While I have herein illustrated a desirable embodiment of the inventionby way of example and suggested certain modifications thereof, I wish itto be understood that the invention is not necessarily limited to thisprecise construction either as shown or suggested, but is broadlyinclusive of any arrangements such as fall within the scope of theappended claims.

I claim:

1. A shoe comprising an upper having a vent opening and a tie unitingthe portions of the upper at opposite sides of the vent, said tiecomprising end portions of inelastic material adapted to be tiedtogether to form a knot, and an intermediate portion of elasticmaterial, the tie being permanently attached to the upper adjacent toone side of the vent opening and being free to reeve through an openingin the upper at the opposite sides of said vent.

2. A shoe comprising an upper having a vent opening and a tie unitingthe portions of the upper at opposite sides of the vent opening, saidtie comprising end portions of ribbon of ornamental character, and anintermediate portion of elastic material, the tie being permanentlysecured to the shoe upper at one side of the vent opening and beingarranged to reeve through an eyelet at the opposite side of the ventopening, the ribbon material being permanently knotted together to forma bow which extends transversely across the vent.

3. A shoe including an upper having a vent and a closure tie comprisingtwo lengths of textile ribbon of substantial width and an intermediateportion of elastic webbing, said tie being threaded through openings inthe upper at opposite sides of the vent opening and having its ends tiedto form a bow-knot of ornamental appearance disposed at the outside ofthe upper and extending transversely across the vent, the intermediateportion of the tie being attached to the upper at one side of the ventbut being free to reeve through the opening at the other side of thevent whereby the vent is permitted to expand and contract in donning anddofng the shoe.

4. A shoe including an upper having a vent and eyelets at opposite sidesof the vent, and a closure tie comprising a continuous band threadedthrough the eyelets and permanently attached to the upper at one side ofthe vent but being free to reeve through the other eyelet, said bandincluding an elastic portion permitting the vent to expand and contract.

ALBERT F. BANCROFI.

